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At Wollaston School we strive to ensure that Wollaston School is open and accessible to all students.

The support offered by the additional needs team is based on individual student needs. Where appropriate, students with additional needs are allocated a keyworker who will be the child’s point of contact within school for mentoring and support.

The additional needs team liaise closely with teaching staff and Heads of Year to ensure that support is holistic and focussed on the individual needs of the child. Our dedicated team of learning support assistants provide help and support within classroom situations across the curriculum.

Our focus is firmly based on ensuring the literacy skills of all pupils are accomplished and that they are equipped to competently access all areas of the curriculum. We therefore have invested in schemes such as withdrawal literacy groups, Accelerated Reader Programme, 6th form reading buddies and in some cases alternative curriculums pathways to ensure that pupils have the time to consolidate their literacy skills.

We have a year 7 nurture group, for young people who enter the school with literacy levels below those expected for beginning secondary school. Our primary trained specialist teacher works with young people to accelerate their literacy skills, developing confidence and learning resilience in order to meet with KS3 expectations.

We are also able to provide a number of support programmes at the school including;

Anxiety programmes

Speech and language sessions

Preparation for exams support sessions

Handwriting

Literacy support sessions

Numeracy support sessions

For vulnerable students we also offer a safe haven for lunch clubs as well as a meet and greet service. In addition to this we offer homework club to support students who may require help or support in completing work outside the classroom.

We carry out diagnostic reading and spelling tests as well as access testing to ensure that students who need additional arrangements during examination periods are accommodated and commission outside agencies for individual testing as and when required.

Wollaston School’s additional needs team liaise closely with primary feeder schools to ensure a smooth transition for students to secondary school. We host a number of events for vulnerable students prior to starting at Wollaston School in order for students to familiarise themselves with their new environment.

The additional needs team ensure that detailed information about each student with additional needs is relayed to each member of staff, so that teaching staff are equipped to meet individual needs within the classroom. We provide a range of resources to meet individual needs such as netbooks, coloured overlays and keyword books.

If you are the parent of a student with Additional needs or have any questions or concerns about your child, please do not hesitate to contact us.